FrugalGamer

Hollow

“I never cared about this ship...I just…wanted to find myself. I had to. Something deep in my brain – deep in my very soul – clawed at me, struggling to make sense of everything. But the sad truth is that it never could. I never could. I still can’t remember who I am.”Hello, prospective crew member! Welcome to Shakhter-One, the first space mining ship to gather resources from the atmosphere of the planet Jupiter! Shakhter-One provides mass quantities of supplies to a resource-starved Earth. Thanks to Shakhter-One, we no longer have to depend on coal or oil! Still not sold on making Shakhter-One your new home?
“I don’t even know if this has happened before. Me, here, telling this same, exact story. …Surely not. I would remember that… Right?”Shakhter-One offers a fresh start among the stars! On Shakhter-One, everybody is important! Everybody is employed! All children have an equal start! We’re confident you’ll see that Shakhter-One is the perfect place to begin your family’s future!
“The only thing that I can truly be sure of is the constant, pervading feeling I have deep inside. I’m empty. I’m hollow.”In “Hollow,” you are one of the pilots that transports precious resource cargo from the mining ship Shakhter-One down to Earth. One day you wake up in an emergency capsule drifting near the facility. You don’t remember who you are, or how you got out there… All you can remember is an autopilot docking code for capsule dock NR 6.
When you dock with Shakhter-One, it is clear that something has gone horribly wrong. The crew is missing and the entire facility is dealing with catastrophic power issues. As you start to uncover the ship’s terrifying secrets, Shakhter-One threatens to take your identity, your sanity, and – ultimately – your life.
The worst evil is the one that knows us better than we know ourselves.
The worst nightmare is the one borne in our past, emotions, fears, and pain.
Key features:

Explore a derelict mining facility in orbit around Jupiter

Fight through the nightmare and solve the mystery of the Shakhter-One

Face your fears head-on or use the environment as your ally

Solve puzzles and use your brain to proceed

Master fast-paced, frenetic gun combat to survive

Reveal the backstory of the protagonist and set him free from his demons… or succumb to them.

Hollow Knight is one of the best 2D platformers I’ve ever played - it is a beautiful, quirky and dynamic game; challenging yet rewarding; mournful yet brimming with hope. When it comes to console, it’s going to cause a real stir.

Hollow Knight is not only what I'd say is the best game so far this year, it also very well may be the best metroidvania title out there right now, and it is easily one of my favorite games of all-time. Truly a masterpiece of gaming if there ever was one, and certainly art worthy of being in a museum.

Hollow Knight is simply one of the best metroidvania games we’ve played and one that shouldn’t be missed by any fan of the genre. From its elaborate and enormous map to its beautiful visuals and large variety of unique enemies and bosses this game is one of the better examples of what the indie scene can achieve.

Hollow Knight is a Metroidvania with a well of content to discover that’s as deep as its labyrinthine caves. The world of Hallownest is compelling and rich, full of story that’s left for you to discover on your own, and built with branching paths that offer an absurd amount of choice in how you go about discovering it. With such a high density of secrets to find and fun, challenging enemies to face, it’s worth spending every moment you can in Hollow Knight.

Taking some hints from Dark Souls, Hollow Knight offers a solid experience through and through. It is outstanding value for money, delivering high quality content, elaborate level design and stunning attention to detail, for a low price. Without any exaggeration, it is one of the best Metroidvania games ever made and one of the most prominent titles this year.

Hollow Knight is well-crafted and beautiful to look at, with an elegance that is found in few games. From exploring the world to interacting with characters and fighting the minions found within, it kept me on my toes throughout. It’s far from the most original though, perhaps taking too much inspiration from similar titles, but with a little tiny tweak in the controls, it could be a sleeper hit.

Hollow Knight is a charming arcade that will not only inspire Metroid/vania fans. You will never be bored in the enormous and magical environments thanks to the colorful RPG elements, interesting story and unique visuals.

A fine example of the best that indie games have to offer. A rock solid metroidvania that excels at many levels, delivering content for countless hours. Hollow knight truly is one of the best Metroidvanias ever made.

A brilliant and beautiful metroidvania, whose sole problem resides in the scarce number of save points and fast travel zones. We do understand that it's a design choice, volutarily made to increase the tension while exploring and to emphasize discovery, but it makes the usual backtracking of the genre a little overwhelming.

Simply one of the best metroidvania games in years. With its beautiful art style, well crafted gameplay and huge game world to explore, Hollow Knight offers amazing value for your money.

CD-Action

Despite some lack of creativity it’s so good that it’s hard to believe that it’s the first project of a tiny studio. Had brilliant Ori and the Blind Forest not existed, Hollow Knight could have become an official standard for Metroidvanias. [06/2017, p.50]

A unique, technically impressive and mechanically sound addition to the metroidvania subgenre. Hollow Knight is a great challenge, not lacking in any of the quality expected of similar, yet higher profile titles.

For fans of the genre, Hollow Knight is a game you simply can’t miss. It takes what people expect in a metroidvania and polishes them up to shine radiantly. The art and animation in a game like this, no matter how beautiful, can only go so far if the backtracking and general metroidvania tropes aren’t handled well. While the backtracking can be tedious and the exploration can be maddening, Hollow Knight is still worth a look to anyone looking for a great action platformer. Hollow Knight wears its inspirations on its sleeve and reminds the world that sometimes you don’t need to create completely new mechanics, sometimes you just need to make those old mechanics shine again.

I still hesitantly recommend Hollow Knight to anyone as partial to Metroidvanias as I am, but the experience runs far longer than its visual appeal does, and at that point it becomes just another Dark Souls wannabe. It’s solid, but it demonstrates how far we still are from puzzling out From Software’s master recipe.